Recent Op-Eds

September 12, 2012, The Hill - "Latinos pick policy over personality"

I remember in 1996 when Bill Richardson, making the media rounds at that year’s Democratic National Convention, said the Latino vote would be key to reelecting Bill Clinton. Even 16 years ago, candidates wrote off Latinos at their peril, but his analysis felt a little too far ahead of the curve.

After this year’s convention — now that millions of voters and the entire political world know the name Julian Castro and countless other Latino elected and community leaders — we can say the Latino vote is here for good, and it is here for big stakes. There have been plenty of announcements, plenty of arrivals and plenty of breaking-out parties. That process is over. The curtain has fallen. If anyone doubts that Latinos will be a big part of our political future, this election is going to be a very big wake-up call.

June 28, 2012, Yuma Sun - "Proud of Opposing SB 1070"

To those responsible for this law and all its tragic consequences, and to many others who preferred not to take a stand, I've been a convenient target. They've tried to convince the public that by sticking up for equal rights and the Constitution, I've stood in the way. They said that by choosing the right way instead of the easy way, I was hurting the state.

Their message — Gov. Jan Brewer's message, Joe Arpaio's message — is sounding more hollow by the minute. They should apologize to the state and the country for the damage they've done.

May 31, 2012, Daily Kos - "House Conservatives Try to Gut the Clean Water Act"

In a misguided effort to make things easier for their corporate friends, House Republicans are pulling out all the stops this year to roll back laws that have protected our water supply for decades. The Clean Water Act, a historic piece of legislation passed in 1972 on a bipartisan basis, is at risk of being severely weakened in a few days while no one watches. We can’t have a healthy, successful nation if we’re willing to trade our most important natural resources for a few dollars in a few well-connected pockets.

This is not the first time the law has been threatened, but it’s the most serious showdown in years. Since its passage the Clean Water Act has protected our streams, rivers and lakes that provide fresh drinking water and recreation for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, two confusing and misguided Supreme Court decisions handed down in 2001 and 2006 left nearly 60 percent of our country’s streams, at least 20 million acres of wetlands, and 117 million Americans’ drinking water at increased risk of pollution. The George W. Bush administration used those two decisions as an opportunity to exclude many water sources from protection and make enforcing pollution controls much more difficult.

May 17, 2012, Arizona Daily Star - "Community health centers like El Rio provide care, promote wellness"

On April 17, USA Today ran a story headlined "Community health centers under pressure to improve care." Citing a national survey of how community health centers operate, the story laid out some of the biggest challenges these clinics face and suggested that because of the Affordable Care Act implementation schedule, addressing these challenges quickly is important.

This is important for Southern Arizona in several ways. Clinics like El Rio Community Health Center in Tucson are often the best - and sometimes the only - provider of medical care for low-income families. I recently visited El Rio and sat down with some of the incredible doctors and board members who keep El Rio running. Even after 10 years in Congress, I learned a lot.

April 17, 2012, The Hill - "Rep. Allen West stirs the pot"

I know Rep. West has plenty of admirers who believe he was just telling it like it is. But I also know the vast majority of Americans, in and out of Washington, whether they follow politics or don’t, whether they vote Republican or Democratic, think very little of Congress right now, and I know Rep. West is gleefully making the problem worse. He thinks nothing of bringing negative attention to himself and his district for the sake of a headline.

This is part of a larger pattern that hasn’t gone unnoticed. President Obama has been called everything under the sun since the day he took office. Mainstream Republicans have thought nothing of calling him an Islamic radical, a fascist, a socialist, an un-American plant from Indonesia or Africa, and a pawn in a scheme for world domination.